


Dream a Little Dream of You

by remreader



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Trailer, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, POV Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 06:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18566143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remreader/pseuds/remreader
Summary: A little peek into Tony's mind while he's adrift in space with zero promise of rescue.No spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.





	Dream a Little Dream of You

Tony Stark woke up.

Pepper was still asleep next to him, the early morning sunshine peeking through the window of their bedroom and glowing ethereally in her light red hair. Tony knew should just let her sleep but an urgent, desperate part of him needed to touch her, hold her close. It was...it was important.  

Pepper shifted in her sleep, unconsciously edging closer to him, and Tony stopped resisting. He leaned over to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear and then he kissed her softly, pressing his lips to the sweet spot on her neck, right where her jaw met her ear. Pepper woke up with a drowsy smile and Tony kept going, playfully kissing the freckles on her face one by one until she started laughing and his heart ached with happiness at the sound of it.

They continued like that for a few minutes until finally Pepper broke away for a brief moment to catch her breath. She gave Tony a light kick in mock annoyance for waking her up and then in a heartbeat she was leaning over him, her hair curtaining around the two of them and tickling slightly where it brushed against the exposed skin of his face and neck.

“Hey, Pep.” He smiled lazily up at her, absentmindedly tracing his thumb against her hip and for once he was perfectly, blissfully content. “How about we stay right here forever? No more Iron Man, no more surprises. Just you and me, like this, together.”

Pepper sighed and pushed herself off of Tony, rolling over and propping herself up on one arm next to him. “Why do you always have to ask that?” She looked at Tony, bright blue eyes studying him sadly, wistfully. "You know we can't.”

She reached out to run her fingers through his hair and as her fingertips grazed against his forehead Tony suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine, completely incongruous with being curled up under the blankets, so close to the woman he loved. “You know this isn't real.”

“No...please…” he whispered softly, pleading, but it was too late.

Tony woke up.

He wasn't home, wasn't with Pepper. He was the same place he'd been for weeks now, the same place he'd probably be forever - lost in space. A broken man on a broken ship and a long, long way from home.

Nebula was leaning over him, a look of concern in her organic eye as the cybernetic one focused even in the ship’s dim lighting on the tears starting to streak their way through the grime on his face. “Another nightmare?”

There had been a lot of those, more and more as he found it harder and harder to stay awake and there was nothing for his guilty conscience to do but dwell on his many mistakes. Twisting his memories and failures and taunting him with them the way he knew he deserved.

_...watching everyone he loved disintegrate into dust in his arms, Pepper and Rhodey but most of all Peter, over and over again Peter, pleading in a terrified voice that he didn't want to go…_

_...Steve demanding to know why Tony hadn't done more, why he'd failed everyone again, before slamming his father's shield into his chest..._

_...Obadiah looming with the arc reactor in his hand, Tony lying paralyzed beneath him. A nightmare that had haunted him for years but they were on Titan now, and Obie grinned as he watched the ashes settling slowly on the surface of the desolate planet, “This is your legacy, Tony…”_

_...Yinsen, looking right through Tony’s defenses like he always had and shaking his head sadly, disappointed. “You promised you wouldn't waste it…”_

But this, this wasn't a nightmare. This was a different kind of torture altogether, the kind disguised as comfort. He shook his head slightly, wiping the tears from his face. “Just a dream.”

“Pepper?”

Tony nodded. The nightmares came in every flavor of torment his dying mind could concoct but the dreams were always Pepper. Precious moments he should've savored more mingled together with heartbreaking glimpses of a future he almost hated himself for actually believing he could have.

_...bouncing nervous-excitedly while watching Pepper walk down the aisle towards him; they've waited so long for this and god she always looked so gorgeous in white..._

_...trying and completely failing not to cry while he held a baby girl who'd probably never exist, his Morgan, a tiny perfect mix of him and Pepper..._

Part of him, the selfish, defeated part wanted to get lost in the fantasy and never wake up but he needed to get home, needed to fix this, needed to bring them all back. So he woke up again and again and felt like his heart was being gouged out every time because none of it was real.

It was just a dream.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I had enough of my original trailer fic idea written that it was begging me to do something with it so this happened...sorry for the angst
> 
> This is a prequel of sorts to [Quiet Moments Before the End](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480883), so go read that next if you haven't already :)


End file.
